Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

Science blogs

EVENTS

Obama’s New Racist Puppy

Yes, the Obamas have a new puppy, another Portuguese water dog, and the White House website and the press corps are all atwitter over the news. I can’t really imagine why anyone would care, but some people do. Even less, though, can I imagine what the point was when Tucker Carlson’s insipid rag the Daily Caller felt the need to end an article about it with this line:

“A Portuguese Water Dog can range in cost wildly. On average, one will pay between $1,400 and $2,000. President Barack Obama has this breed of animal,” according to an answer on Ask.com.

With the addition of Sunny, the Obamas now have two black Portuguese water dogs.

Jul 30, 2012 – We have already notified dailycaller.com that we found malware on the site. For more about the problems found on dailycaller.com, visit the …

Malware seems to be a long running, sporadic problem with The Daily Caller.

I’ll let someone with more time and bigger ovaries see if they still have it. It’s such a trivial rag, it isn’t worth worrying about. Or visiting. IIRC, they’ve been predicting the end of the world for about forever and been wrong for about forever.

Well, I guess that makes me really elitist.
My daughter paid a total of $1200 for my German Shepherd, with paying the breeder and paying to have him flown to her.
She’s an animal trainer, so she then trained him to be her “demo dog” when she was teaching dog training classes.
She later fully trained him to be a service dog for me. I’ve heard that a fully trained service animal is highly valuable, so that makes my dog more expensive than the President’s dogs.
Does that make me more elitist than the Obama’s?
I think that I’m just thankful to have my sweet boy around to help me to get around!

Earlier this week, I had a dream that America elected a second black president: My brother’s cat. He lorded it over me by sitting on my chest. He was also wearing a cute tie like a more memetic black cat.

@ dingojack, #14
Neither Spain nor Portugal…
Lipizzaner horses originally were bred at Lipica, Slovenia. Part of the breeding stock came from Spain, but Neapolitan and Arab horses contributed, too. The horses were and are widely used at the “Spanish Court Riding School” at Vienna, Austria.
The stud farm has an interesting history, especially during and after WW1. Part of the breeding stock was brought to Kladruby nad Labem (now Czech Republic), later moved to Topoľčianky, (now Slovakia),another to Austria, and later returned to Lipica, which then belonged to Italy.
In WW2, the Germans concentrated all Lipizzaner stock at Hostau (Germany). That stock was later distributed between Italy and Austria.
These days, Lipizzaner are bred in Austria, Slovenia,Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia, and Bosnia . Private breeders in the US, South Africa, France and Denmark.
None in Spain or Portugal.

steffp“Part of the breeding stock came from Spain, but Neapolitan and Arab horses contributed, too.”
It should be pointed out that the Neapolitan was eventually thrown out, after people kept eating only the chocolate part and putting the rest back.

What I found more interesting is that they had to highlight the supposed cost of the dog (which they have no hard evidence for) in order to make the President look like a elitist snob.

I’m pretty pro-get-your-dog-from-the-pound, but this particular breed in hypoallergenic. Don’t know who (if anyone) in the family might be allergic, but even being pro-pound, I’m perfectly comfortable with an allergic dog-lover paying (more) money to get a dog that won’t trigger their allergies.

During the 1960s, my grandparents lived in the South. They had a small black dog that gave birth to a black puppy. While I was visiting, we took the puppy to the vet for immunization. When the vet stuck the dog with his needle, the puppy squealed. The vet looked up at us, and in a pronounced drawl said: guess he don’t like bein’ black.

The Daily Caller is well-suited to life in the Deep South, circa 1964.

I did read the Obamas gave money to an organization that rescues pet animals (the Humane society or something like that). Personally, I am partial to rescuing greyhounds. I don’t think they are hypoallergenic but they do come in many colors

I have a white caniche, a half-white half-black cat a and a black cat, so am I a half-warlock, or a full one ? What spells can I cast without incurring cross-class penalties ? Can I cast Heal Light Wounds without it costing me a leg and an arm ? Come on Daily Caller, answer me!